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Pikmin (franchise)
Pikmin is an American animated comedy franchise whose eponymous group consists of Captain Olimar, Margo Gru, Alex, Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, and Yellow Pikmin. Due to the monster success of the show, Illumination started a franchise. Alongside the television series, the characters of the show have been featured in a variety of media, including books, comic books, a magazine, musical releases, and video games. Pikmin: The Movie, a feature-length film, was released in 2007 and a second film, Pikmin: Hero Out of the City was released in 2019. A variety of merchandise, including T-shirts, DVDs, board games and action figures has been released. As of 2008, the franchise has generated $1.763 billion in total revenue, including $300 million from TV syndication, $200 million from DVD sales, $763 million at the box office, and $500 million from merchandise sales. Plot Pikmin features the adventures of the Pikmin Club — Captain Olimar, Margo Gru, Alex, Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, and Yellow Pikmin, set in a fictional city, called Pikminville. But their life there is occasionally interrupted by attacks from Dark Pikmin and his henchmen, so Olimar must occasionally team up with his friends to stop their plans. And all this happens during their daily life. Characters Main article: List of Pikmin characters Main characters * Captain Olimar (voiced by Chris Renaud) – A hypersensitive, cocky, yet good-hearted, outgoing, independent, and confident astronaut who is often the leader of the group. He spends much of his time with his friends and trying to impress brother and part-time sister Margo. He also likes to think of good schemes, along with the rest of his friends. * Margo Gru (voiced by Grey DeLisle, later Miranda Cosgrove) – A cynical, somewhat bossy, yet cool, brown-eyed daughter. She is Olimar's sister. Although Olimar thinks the world of her, she apparently likes Olimar a lot, but has thought of him as a "salvageable male". She and Olimar have broken up many times, but they always seem to make up sooner or later. * Alex Delmer (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) – An immature, overemotional, clumsy, talkative, and childish 8-year old boy who is Olimar's best friend. The two often spend a lot of their time hanging out together. His parents are divorced and his behavior wavers between kindness and aggravation. He also likes to play video games and be a master of it. * Red Pikmin (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) – A cheerful, hyper, energetic, gentle, sweet, cute, and yet geeky red Pikmin specie who is nice to everyone in the group. * Blue Pikmin (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) – An overweight, huggable, fun-loving, sensitive, and friendly blue pikmin specie with a great sense of humor. He often hangs out with Olimar and Alex at most times. * Yellow Pikmin (voiced by Phil Proctor) – A shy, moody, depressed, but sometimes sardonic, foul-mouthed, spoiled, selfish, and ill-tempered goth and emo yellow pikmin specie. He often likes to be alone and listen to pop rock music. Recurring characters * Purple Pikmin '(voiced by John DiMaggio) – A purple Pikmin specie who is the Pikmin Club's grandfather. He is like a raisin. * 'Daniel Ableman '(voiced by Nancy Cartwright) - Alex's best friend. Villains * 'Dark Pikmin (voiced by Gregg Berger) – A dark pikmin specie who usually visits the house and becomes mean to the Pikmin Club. * Tattoo (voiced by Michael Beattie) – Coming soon! * Derick (voiced by Jim Cummings) – Coming soon! * Dragon (voiced by Brian T. Delaney) - Coming soon! History Series' creator Chris Meledandri first became fascinated with the woods as a child and began developing his artistic abilities at a young age. Although these interests would not overlap for some time—the idea of drawing creatures seemed boring to him—Meledandri pursued both during college, receiving a major in marine biology and a minor in art. After graduating in 1977, he joined the Nature Institute, an organization in Dana Point, California, dedicated to educating the public about nature. While Meledandri was there, his love of the ocean began to influence his artistry. He created a precursor to Pikmin: a comic book titled The Flower Zone used by the institute to teach visiting students about creatures. The comic starred various anthropomorphic lifeforms, many of which would evolve into Pikmin characters. Meledandri tried to get the comic professionally published, but none of the companies he sent it to were interested. While working as a staff artist at the Nature Institute, Meledandri entertained plans to return eventually to college for a master's degree in art. Before this could materialize, he attended an animation festival, which inspired him to make a slight change in course. Instead of continuing his education with a traditional art program, Meledandri chose to study experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts. His thesis film, Wormholes, is about the theory of relativity. He wanted his series to stand out from most popular cartoons of the time, which he felt were exemplified by cartoons like The Smurfs. As a result, Meledandri decided to focus on a single main character: the "weirdest" sea creature he could think of. The Flower Zone's Olimar resembles an actual astronaut, and at first, Melendandri continued to use this design. He then considered modeling the character after a flower and realized this idea would match the character's square personality perfectly. Margo, Alex, Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Dark Pikmin were the next characters Meledandri created for the show. In 1987, while pitching the cartoon to NBC executives, Meledandri donned a flower, brought along an "flower terrarium with models of the characters", and played peaceful music to set the theme. The setup was described by NBC executive Eric Coleman as "pretty amazing". They were given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode "Missing Pikmin". Meledandri, Coffin, and Renaud returned with what was described by NBC official Albie Hecht as, "a performance he wished he had on tape". In an interview, Cyma Zarghami, then-president of NBC, said, "their executives' immediate reaction was to see it again, both because they liked it and it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before". Zarghami was one of four executives in the room when Pikmin was screened for the first time. Television Pikmin Main article: List of Pikmin episodes Pikmin first appeared in the development slate by NBC in late 1987, under no official name for the pilot, after a report that NBC had purchased the series from creators. On April 7, 1988, Meledandri and Universal Television inked a deal. The pilot was named Pikmin in April 1988, when it appeared on the primetime slate for the 1988–89 television season, although it wasn't officially on the network schedule. In November 1988, Pikmin appeared on the primetime slate for the 1989–90 television season. On January 18, 1989, it was announced that Pikmin would air a sneak peak on May 5, 1989. On September 18, 1989, it was announced that Pikmin would officially premiere on January 12, 1990. Pikmin ''quickly was one of NBC's best shows, with its animation style and character development. On March 20, 2009, ''Pikmin surpassed Bonanza with the episode "Television is An Idiot Box" as the longest-running NBC scripted-series to date. In September 1994, MCA TV began syndicating reruns of Pikmin ''to local stations throughout the US. As of 2003, syndication reruns of ''Pikmin ''have generated an estimated one billion dollars in revenue for NBC. In 2008, advertisers spent $314.8 million to advertise during the primetime show and subsequent reruns, down 16.8% from 2007. ''Quack Dark Main article: Quack Dark A spin-off series, Quack Dark, aired on NBC from 1999 to 2000. Pikmin Adventures Main article: Pikmin Adventures Kids' WB aired a spin-off from 1999 to 2002 called Pikmin Adventures. The spin-off was very poorly received by long time fans of the older series. Crossover with Father of the Pride Main article: Father of the Pikmin Films Pikmin: The Movie Main article: Pikmin: The Movie Pikmin: Hero Out of the City Main article: Pikmin: Hero Out of the City The Lego Movie Daniel made a cameo appearance in the 2014 film The Lego Movie as a Master Builder in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Print publications Comics Main article: Pikmin Comics Books Main article: List of Pikmin books Theme Park attractions Universal Studios Main article: Pikmin: The Ride In July 2007, it was officially announced that Pikmin: The Ride, a simulator ride, would be implemented into the Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. It officially opened May 15, 2008 in Florida and May 19, 2008 in Hollywood. In the ride, patrons are introduced to a cartoon theme park called Crazy Clown land built by Crazy Clown. However, Dark Pikmin is loose from prison to get revenge on Crazy Clown and the Pikmin Club. James L. Brooks, Chris Meledandri and Chris Wedge, collaborated with the Universal Studios creative team, Universal Creative, to help develop the ride.117 The six-minute ride uses 80-foot IMAX screens and Sony Projectors.118 There are 24 ride cars, each seating eight people,115 and approximately 2000 people can ride it per hour.114 The animation in the ride uses computer generated 3D animation rendered by Blur Studio and Reel FX,119 rather than the traditional 2-D animation seen on Pikmin.120 The Universal Studios Florida version of the ride hosted its one millionth rider on July 14, 2008, reaching the milestone faster than any other attraction in the resort.121 Broadway at the Beach In August 2018, Pikmin in 4D opened at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, housed in a replica of The Azteca theater from the series. Next door, a gift shop modeled after Pikminville Market sells in-series merchandise such as Epic Cola, Super-size burgers, doughnuts, and Squirpees.